Hexagram 48
水风井
The Well
Hexagram 48, Jing (The Well), is Water over Wood - the wooden bucket descending into the water, drawing up the nourishing spring.
Upper Trigram
☵
坎 (水)
Lower Trigram
☴
巽 (木)
Palace
震 Palace
Shi / Ying Lines
Shi: Line 5 · Ying: Line 2
The 坎 trigram (水) sits above the 巽 trigram (木), forming 水风井. This hexagram belongs to the 震 Palace.
Judgment (卦辞)
The Well. The town may be changed, but the well cannot be changed.
Judgment text follows the Wilhelm–Baynes translation (The I Ching or Book of Changes, Princeton University Press), quoted for commentary.
Image (象辞)
Water over wood: the image of The Well.
Line Texts (爻辞)
One does not drink the mud of the well. (井泥不食)
At the wellhole one shoots fishes. The jug is broken. (井谷射鲋)
The well is cleaned, but no one drinks. Sorrow. (井渫不食)
The well is being lined. No blame. (井甃)
A clear, cold spring from which one can drink. (井冽)
One draws from the well without hindrance. (井收勿幕)
Hexagram 48 in Love & Relationships
Career: Tend your sources - skills, health, relationships - like a well. The town may change, the well must not.
Relationships: Be a well for others: reliable, clear, and shared without hindrance.
Hexagram 48 as a yes / no answer
Leans yes
The hexagram's core image favors moving forward — conditions support the asking.
The I Ching reads situations, not fixed outcomes — your reading can weigh the moving lines with this leaning.
In-Depth Analysis[+]
Hexagram 48, Jing (The Well), is Water over Wood - the wooden bucket descending into the water, drawing up the nourishing spring. The well is the image of what sustains life: constant, communal, unchanging. The judgment: 'the town may be changed, but the well cannot be changed' - institutions rise and fall, but the deep sources of nourishment endure. The lines trace the well's care: the muddy well no one drinks, the clean well no one uses, and the final well from which all may draw without hindrance. Jing teaches that our duty is to keep the well clear and share its water - to tend the sources that nourish ourselves and others.
Historical Stories[+]
The public wells of ancient cities, maintained for generations, around which communities formed - the communal source that outlasted every ruler.
A teacher whose wisdom is a well: students come and go like towns rising and falling, but the source of learning remains constant.
Practical Applications[+]
Career: Tend your sources - skills, health, relationships - like a well. The town may change, the well must not.
Relationships: Be a well for others: reliable, clear, and shared without hindrance.
Personal Growth: What is your well - the deep source you return to for nourishment? Keep it clean and draw from it often.
Classical Sources for Hexagram 48
火珠林 (The Fire Pearl Forest)宋 (Song Dynasty, 960–1279) — disputed
The foundational Najia framework for mapping Stems, Branches, Six Relations, and Six Animals to each hexagram line.
Related Hexagrams
Learn More
Wonder how Hexagram 48 applies to your situation?
Ask the I Ching about Hexagram 48